NASCAR: 5 drivers who have been underperforming
By Asher Fair
The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season has not gone according to plan for everybody. Here are five drivers who have underperformed thus far.
Following the lone off weekend on the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series schedule, action is set to resume this Sunday evening with the Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway.
This race kicks off 20 straight weeks of action, including the final 10 races of the 26-race regular season and the 10 playoff races.
Quite a few drivers have not had the start to their season they would have liked. Here are five drivers who have underperformed through 16 events.
Underperforming NASCAR drivers: No. 1 – Austin Dillon
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Austin Dillon has always been somewhat of a mid-pack driver who is capable of scraping together solid results or winning his way into the playoffs when nobody expects him to. But his 2023 season has been nothing shy of a disaster.
For the longest time, Richard Childress Racing have been seen as being a step behind top teams such as Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing. Kyle Busch’s arrival this year has shown that they are just as capable of winning races as anybody else. With three wins, the two-time champion is tied for the series lead in victories with Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron.
Yet even without a recent 60-point penalty, Dillon would only be in 24th place in the standings with just four top 10 finishes.
Is Dillon supposed to be performing as well as Busch? Not at all. But he should be solidly in the playoff picture, not in “must win” mode with 10 races left on the regular season schedule.